The previous article focussed on the basic approach to writing harmonies, in this one we will look at some more progressive examples.

Quartal Harmony is something that has been around for centuries. One of the earliest uses of it was by composers such as Frederic Copin and Franz List in the 1800’s. It became more common place in modern music through jazz pianists such as Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Jazz guitarists such as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and George Benson soon picked it up and started using it in their own playing.

In this article I am going to give examples of different approaches to writing guitar harmonies. I feel this is an often overlooked aspect of writing but of course you need a band with two guitarists to be able to pull it off live. This should give you some ideas on how to add new textures to your own compositions.

Musical harmony has come a long way in the last 150 years, so far in fact that it could be easy to fall into a rut of repetition, never breaking any new ground. Bebop itself was born out of frustration and experimentation, the youth of the day pushing the boundaries and seeing what happened. Today we're going to look at some post bop experementation that you might find in the lines of saxophonists like Michael Brecker and Jerry Bergonzi. he focus will be the synthetic scale known as the tritone scale, so come and have a look if you want to insert a little of the devil into your playing.

Ok, this might very well be deemed as cheating, as not all that many bop players were playing over funk grooves, but hopefully you're starting to see the point of this series now. We're using bop as a starting point for our phrasing ideas and exploring all of these complex tonalities to twist the listeners ear. So in an unscheduled break from true bop we're going to take a look at my favourite guitarist - Scott Henderson, and a sound which is very common in his playing, the lydian dominant scale.

If you are new to 8 finger tapping then check this article out. Aleksandar is giving us a very informative lesson with 3 videos, tabs and in depth explanation of the technique.

So, last time in Bop 'n' Roll we took a look at the (half whole) diminished scale. We were using this as a way of creating tension which can then be resolved by moving to chord one of the key (or chord one of a new key). This practice of tension and resolution is common in bebop; but what if you want to create a little bit of spice over a chord that isn't resolving? What if you want to just get a little bit out to twist the listeners ears? For that we will start by taking a look at the melodic minor scale.

Hello my good friends, I'm back with another article for you after a long break from instructional material. This time we're going to be looking at something I spent some time working on with my good friend Martin Miller - this one's for you mate, and to many more years of your shared wisdom.

In this instalment of Bop 'n' Roll we're going to look a little deeper into one of bebop's defining characteristics then talk about how we can apply it to your own playing. This will work in rock, pop, fusion and blues, so dont just think these articles are restricting you to jazz.

Hopefully you've had chance to digest the last column and you're ready to get a little bit more outside. After the last article I received some really great feedback from some of the readers with suggestions of what they would like more to cover in the coming instalments.

One of the most popular questions was "What scales are used in bebop?" As with any style of music there's a lot more to it than that, in fact you may have opened a can of worms here, but I give you "The Bebop Dominant Scale"

As a guitar player, you may have come across the expression "2-5-1" before. If you're coming from a Jazz, or perhaps even Blues background, this phrase might sound familiar. If, however, you come from a more Rock oriented musical upbringing, this term might sound mysterious or confusing. This article should hopefully give you a decent understanding of what "2-5-1" means and how to incorporate it in your playing.